Star Trek 913: Tomorrow Never Knows!

913. Tomorrow Never Knows!

PUBLICATION: Star Trek v.2 #15, DC Comics, January 1991

CREATORS: Peter David and Bill Mumy (writers), Gordon Purcell and Arne Starr (artists)

STARDATE: 8517.4 (follows the last issue)

PLOT: The Worthy's homeworld has been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust and they've all given up on life. Captains Kirk and Styles tell them their adopted planet is to be destroyed by the Lamver unit after all, only a ploy to make them care again. In actuality, the Lamver unit doesn't work and Styles is there only to bring it back to Earth for scrapping. He helps because he likes the idea of Kirk owing him one. The Worthy, deciding they need a new purpose and angry over the Prime Directive contributing to not saving their homeworld find a peaceful resolution, choose to head back into space as peacemakers.

CONTINUITY: Captain Styles and the Exeter (see the previous issue).

DIVERGENCES: Styles is still upset at Kirk for the events of ST III, but makes no mention of Kirk taking the Excelsior away from him in the previous comics series.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Chekov vs. a drunk guy
REVIEW: It's unfortunate that this issue doesn't play fair with the readers. Though Kirk manipulating the Lost in Space stand-ins and hiding things from us is perfectly legitimate, it seems like the Lamver unit goes from ultra-important MacGuffin to worthless piece of scrap completely behind the scenes. Likewise, Styles goes from enemy to friend in the space of a few pages. The comic LIES TO US to keep the tension up. There are some good bits, like the leader of the Worthy being called out by one of his own, but there are far more scenes that simply don't work - a tortured Gim at the gym joke, for example, or the extended slapstick between Chekov and the Worthy couple. I haven't mentioned it before, but a weak issue brings out the worst in me: I'm not sure the Legion of Super-Heroes and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy references are a good idea (Rimbor and the Bug Blatter Beast, respectively).